If I were to give a title to my collection of dispatches, it would be My Word, since this is mine and it centers around The Word. Don’t need a title though. Dispatches suffices. A dispatch is a series of missives from someone out in a field. So, actually, Feld Notes would be a far better title. Maybe someone, some day will go through all these dispatches and put the best in book form. Maybe. Most likely not. The internet will collapse someday, and all will be lost.

This, in my mind, won’t be the worst thing that could happen. Lately I’ve been attempting to imagine it, all of us and I do mean all of us, without cell phones and computers. Far flung communication would be a thing of the past. Those of us with landlines would be able to connect with family members and friends. But if the landlines go, well then, we’d really be shit out of luck.

This would take some getting used to. I pause. Oh, and what if gas was no longer available? Giddy up – we’d be back to using horses. It would take two days to get to town, and we’d have to camp coming and going. This we could do.

All this could come to be. I think that Pete and I would stay put and tend to the place and the animals. Today would have been a good day for this. I got up around 5:00 a.m. and let Ryder out. She came back in the house wet with snow on her back. I knew it was a snow-rain mix. This was verified at 8:00 a.m. when I raised my head and looked out the window and noted that the ground and surrounding environs were white.

I got up, dressed, when outside and slogged down to the horse pen. And it was a slog. I didn’t clean the pen last night, so it was a mess. I shoveled off the mats and picked up what manure I could. I put the five-gallon buckets (in which we collect manure) in a stall in the compost station. All I can say is yuck.

I had to go to the dentist. I wanted Pete to take me but rightfully figured that he had too much on his plate already. I worked some on my carbon footprint article then regretfully left the warm cabin. Murphy and Buffalo Mine Roads were pretty gnarly, heavy slush made the car slide some – but surprisingly, the other roads were just fine. In fact, it had not rained on Bogard Road. As an aside, I sure do hate, and I mean hate, roundabouts.

The dentist – got my teeth cleaned and a small, very small, cavity behind my front tooth (called tooth #1) filled. I then went over to the oral surgeon’s office and again asked for an earlier consultation date, arguing that December 16 is an awfully long ways away. The truth be known, I can wait because I don’t relish the thought of implant surgery.

This was my day. The high Point was finding a copy of Larry the Cable Guy’s book “Get ‘er done.” We should all have such strong entrepreneurial spirits.

Next: 277. 10/20/26: Vigil